An ongoing series of articles on songs & performances of the early Grateful Dead.

August 25, 2009

The Crowded Dead Stage 1967-1975

I've put together a list of all the guest appearances in the Dead's early shows. I don't know of a site that provides a listing like this, and it's likely that I've forgotten or left out some guests, so if anyone notices something missing, please speak up!

This list is mostly limited to electric Dead shows where someone outside the band added a musical contribution. It doesn't include the acoustic sets of 1969-70 (which often had many guests), since I'll be talking about those in another post (that will be a kind of "part II").It doesn't include the New Riders - though I should at least mention the 3/18/73 New Riders show where Garcia, Weir, and Godchaux all join in.It doesn't include announcers - some of whom, in the early days, are quite entertaining in their own right.It doesn't include studio sessions (for instance, the Jon Hendricks session in March '67). For a good discography and listings of various studio collaborations, check www.deaddisc.com - and for Garcia's non-Dead projects, check www.thejerrysite.com (he played on SO many other bands' albums).It doesn't include the collaborations with David Crosby in late '70 (for instance, the PERRO sessions or the 12/15/70 show), which could be a whole separate discussion.It doesn't include the many tapes of Garcia jamming with other musicians - for instance, Country Joe (the Fillmore West '69 "Donovan's Reef jam"), Jefferson Airplane (Family Dog 9/6/69), the Allman Brothers (Cow Palace 12/31/73), or Doug Sahm (Austin 11/23/72), or various early jams with Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady.But I did include a couple illuminating non-Dead shows that happen to be on the Archive, where Dead members have a strong presence, as well as the notorious Hartbeats shows since those have so much Dead material.

I've decided to skip the early '66 Acid Tests, since they're so full of audience mikes and Prankster chatter - the Dead themselves were the guests. So we'll start at the dawn of 1967:

1969Early '69 was a conspicuously guest-free time as the Dead played their limited setlist with Tom Constanten at show after show. As I've mentioned before, in April/May '69 a little setlist upheaval started as the Dead started bringing back bunches of old covers, adding more variety (and sloppiness) to their shows. All of a sudden in late spring, we see a whole torrent of guests taking the stage in Dead shows, which would continue through 1970.

19702/1/70 - Peter Green plays guitar in Lovelight, and another Fleetwood Mac member hollers for a bit.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-02-01.psbd.cousinit.18121.sbeok.shnf2/4/70 - Though it wasn't part of the Dead show, several bands were being filmed at the Family Dog this night; and at the end of the evening there was an "allstar jam" including Garcia, Santana, and the Jefferson Airplane guitarists, part of which was broadcast. It's not on the Archive (or the 2/4/70 Download Series), but it is on youtube.2/11/70 - For the Dark Star>Spanish Jam>Lovelight, an enormous crew including most of Fleetwood Mac and the Allman Brothers joined the Dead onstage - Peter Green, Duane Allman, Mick Fleetwood, Danny Kirwan, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks & Berry Oakley.http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-02-11.late-set2.aud.smith.99152.sbeok.flac163/8/70 - A mystery guest takes the mike after Pigpen's Katie Mae and "sings" a blues while Pigpen and the band accompany him - then he continues shouting and tunelessly bleating a harmonica all through Not Fade Away, while the Dead apparently ignore him. This was thought to be Wayne Ceballos; Pigpen seems to have encouraged him onstage, for some reason. (The link has a debate on whether this singer is Ceballos or not - which is ironic, since the genuine Ceballos on 6/8/69 is almost equally atrocious.) Hands-down the worst guest appearance.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-03-08.sbd.9195.sbeok.shnf3/17/70 - This famed show, where the Dead played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, doesn't survive on tape. But there are descriptions of the show here:http://www.theblackdog.org/gd-bpo/(As for lost shows, I should also mention 5/10/70, where the Dead jammed with the Allman Brothers.)4/9/70 - An unknown guest sings the improvised "Cowboy Song", an interesting Sugar Magnolia-type hoedown, as the audience stamp their feet. http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-09.sbd.hanno.6157.sbeok.shnf6/7/70 - During the Other One drum solo, a lady gives a speech to the audience; not only that, but someone's singing off-mike during the Cryptical reprise. (Deadlists claims this is Robert Hunter.) Someone also sings "hey baby" over the opening of Cosmic Charlie. The Dead themselves, perhaps unsurprisingly, seem a little unfocused.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-07.sbd.hollister.98.sbeok.shnf7/16/70 - At Bear's going-away party, Janis Joplin sings another Lovelight with Pigpen - this one is much raunchier than last year's.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-07-16.sbd.clugston.6485.sbeok.shnf8/19/70 - David Crosby plays guitar in Not Fade Away>Lovelight - unfortunately, in the audience tape it's hard to make him out.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-08-19.aud.cotsman.11797.sbeok.shnf11/11/70 - Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, and Papa John Creach join the Dead during Goin' Down the Road and they play a series of fun jams, blues, and rockers to end the show.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-11.aud.cotsman.17081.sbeok.shnf11/16/70 - This Hell's Angels benefit has a few guests on several tunes - Steve Winwood on organ, Will Scarlet on harmonica, and perhaps Chris Wood doing some singing in Not Fade Away. (This show used to be known as 11/23/70, but 11/16 Fillmore has become the accepted date.) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-16.sbd.winters.17361.sbeok.shnf(There is also a Good Lovin' with Hot Tuna (Jorma, Jack, and Papa John) that used to be attributed to 11/16/70, but it's not on the Archive)11/20/70 - The bonus set with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady features quite a few hot jams and rockers, in better quality than 11/11.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-20.aud.cotsman.9001.sbeok.shnf11/21/70 - Only part of the set exists, a Cryptical>Other One medley. Ned Lagin says this was the first show he played with the Dead, but he wasn't plugged into the PA, so he's quite inaudible.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-21.sbd.cotsman.17033.sbeok.shnf(Although it's an acoustic set, I should mention here the 11/21/70 Boston radio show they did after this performance - Garcia & Weir played several acoustic songs in which they were joined by Duane & Gregg Allman. This set's apparently not on deadlists or the Archive.)12/31/70 - During I Know You Rider, you can hear a woman screaming continually for quite a while; the Dead ignore her. After the song, another woman says into a mic, "Um, excuse me, I forgot my cape in the corner over there...." As Deadlists puts it, "Plainly things were a little out of control backstage; perhaps there was a mic live that shouldn't have been." (This is also the show where the Dead direct a spotlight onto an audience taper - Garcia shouts, "There's bootleggers among us - let's find out who these people are!")http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-12-31.sbd-fm.7283.sbeok.shnf12/31/70 - After the Dead show, in the wee morning hours Weir came back for an extra set with Hot Tuna (Jorma, Jack, Will Scarlet on harmonica, Joey Covington on drums) - playing a selection of oldies, most of them in the Dead's setlists, but here done Hot Tuna-style. This is a rare example of hearing Weir (rather than Garcia) as a guest.http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-12-31.aftershow.sbd.cole.6171.sbeok.shnf

Guest appearances dropped off significantly in 1971, as the Dead tightened up their shows. In fact, there were none - except for three nights in the Fillmore East run in April:4/26/71 - Duane Allman plays guitar in Sugar Magnolia, Hurts Me Too, & BIODTL. He's rather low in the mix (and the song selection could be better) - apparently these songs were almost released on the Ladies & Gentlemen set, but were halted by legal issues.4/27/71 - The Beach Boys emerge from the mists of time for a little mini-set in the middle of the Dead's set.4/28/71 - In an even more surprising emergence, Tom Constanten reappears - not for a whole set, interestingly, but he plays in the Dark Star>St Stephen>Not Fade Away medley. This was released on Ladies & Gentlemen.

12/31/71 also has a raucous midnight start - during the opening Dancin' in the Streets jam, the radio announcer mentions that two men "took off their diapers and are running around the stage nude!" Someone (perhaps one of these men) shouts "Happy new year!" and some random shrieks into a mic during the jam. Afterwards, Weir announces that the stage is a mess....http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-12-31.fm.lanum.135.sbeok.shnf

A new twist came in September '73. For eight shows in the 9/11 to 9/26 Northeast tour, Joe Ellis & Martin Fierro joined the Dead on horns for Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, the Weather Report Suite, Eyes of the World, Truckin' and Sugar Magnolia. These shows have aroused mixed feelings - while the horns added a free-jazz or New Orleans-ish tinge to the sets, some people feel they're more intrusive than enjoyable. It's also notable that the horns weren't added to other jam songs - and this tour in general was rather light on the deep jams. I suspect the horn players weren't given much practice time to work out arrangements - as a result, we get quite a few second-set jams of Truckin'>Eyes>Weather Report.

Though not a Dead show, 11/28/73 is worth mentioning since Garcia, Lesh, and Hart joined Ned Lagin for a Seastones concert - more prolonged and abstract than the usual Dead jam, but more listenable than Lesh & Lagin's 1974 adventures, since Garcia's doing some interesting things.http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-11-28.sbd-seastones.finney.968.sbefail.shnf(This link also includes the 6/6/75 Seastones show, and outtakes from Tom Constanten's Tarot album, also with Garcia, Lesh & Hart.)

Starting on June 23, 1974, Ned Lagin & Lesh played some Seastones pieces in-between Dead sets at most of the '74 shows. These bass drones & synthesizer noises are a bit too experimental for most people; but there were a few times when the rest of the band would come out and turn Seastones into a full-band jam, leading into generally very spacy sets where Lagin could continue playing with the Dead:9-11-74 Seastones>space>Eyes of the World>space>Wharf Rat(not on the Archive)9/21/74 Seastones>Playin' in the Bandhttp://www.archive.org/details/gd74-09-21.sbd.miller.30654.sbeok.flacf10-16-74 Seastones>space>Wharf Rat>space>Eyes of the Worldhttp://www.dead.net/features/tapers-section/january-7-january-13-200810-18-74 Seastones>jam>Dark Star>Morning Dew(partially released on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack)

Finally, there are a few 1975 guest appearances:3/17/75 - Not a show but a session at Weir's studio, in which David Crosby & Ned Lagin rehearse with the Dead on Lagin's birthday - mostly on a couple Crosby songs, Low Down Payment and Homeward Through the Haze. Not one of the more interesting '75 sessions. (The 4/17/75 studio session is also said to have guests - Cipollina, Crosby & Lagin - but I couldn't bring myself to listen. I believe Lagin appears on a number of these studio rehearsals.)http://www.archive.org/details/gd75-03-17.sbd.vernon.10111.sbeok.shnf3/23/75 - Ned Lagin (electric piano) & Merl Saunders (organ) join the Dead for this surprising Blues for Allah show. Not only is it a hardcore set to drop on an unsuspecting audience, it's unique in having three keyboardists.(It's also not on the Archive anymore, since it was on the Beyond Description bonus CD.)9/28/75 - Matt Kelly plays harmonica on Music Never Stopped and BIODTL. http://www.archive.org/details/gd75-09-28.sbd.fink.9392.sbeok.shnf (sbd)http://www.archive.org/details/gd1975-09-28.fob.menke-falanga.motb-0069.91770.flac24 (aud)

Once the Dead started touring again, I don't recall any guests onstage until mid-'78, with the likes of Hamza el-Din, Lee Oskar, John Cippolina, and various Pranksters & motorcycles & banjo ladies....but that is a list for someone else to start.

I should have caught the 6-13-70 guests - I believe there is piano in there too, not sure who's playing that. I mentioned the 1970 acoustic-set guests in the acoustic-sets post - but other than the usual NRPS guys & the couple you listed, the only other one I recall was David Grisman on mandolin at the 9/20/70 show.

Crosby can be a ghostly presence sometimes (as on the 8-19-70 tape). What's also interesting about 8-14-71 is that Ned Lagin says he was playing along with the Dead at those Berkeley shows, but wasn't plugged into the PA....this happened at several shows apparently, and I only mentioned it for 11-21-70 since there's not much use listing a guest you can't hear!

I should also note, I've read that someone (probably Joey Covington) is singing in the 1-23-70 Lovelight, but I haven't checked for myself yet: http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-01-23.sbd.fixed.connor.18153.sbeok.shnf

I went to listen to the 6-13-70 AUD again - wonderful show, in particular the Lovelight. I'm not sure I hear two guests in there (the Compendium reviewer says he can't hear them), but there may be a third guitar there. Anyway, I think the piano on New Speedway is Pigpen, since he played piano for it at the Aug '70 Fillmore West shows as well.

More to add! Ned Lagin joined the Dead for Dark Star on 2-18-71 (clavichord) and 4-8-71 (electric piano). He's fairly clear in the 2-18 show (also during Wharf Rat & Candyman), but is barely audible on 4-8.http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-02-18.sbd.cantor-crouch-diebert-gmb.85478.sbeok.flac16 http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-04-08.sbd.unknown.14397.shnf He also says he played in the Other Ones on 8-14 and 8-15-71. I'll have to check those again to see if he's audible....

More corrections - The "5/29/69" show is actually 5/11/69: http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-05-11.fm.cotsman.6296.sbefail.shnf

Also, this site has more details on the guests at the Fillmore West June 6 and 8, '69: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/fillmore-west-june-6-and-8-1969-guest.html Looks like it was Wayne Ceballos (not Elvin Bishop) guesting on June 6; and there were apparently more guests on June 8 than you might think...

While I'm at it, deadlists also notes for the 4-15-70 Other One: "A third guitarist sits in, and also someone on keyboards, and someone on congas (starting from during the first drums)."

A correction: 11-28-73 is not Ned Lagin. Collectors have long erroneously thought it was a Seastones show - but it's actually Garcia and Hart, doing an experiment in quadraphonic sound. (The full audience tape has just recently surfaced - it's basically 2 1/2 solid hours of space!) I'm not sure even if Phil Lesh was there (he's unannounced), though he should have been...

So strictly speaking, 11/28/73 no longer belongs on a "Grateful Dead guests" list, though 6/6/75 is still valid as far as I know!

'6/19/68' is not 6/19/68...it's actually 2/19/69. Someone sings along with Pigpen in the second part of Lovelight. And there is an extra guitar player (maybe one of the QMS guys) in the second-set jam, but I don't hear Jack Casady in there.

I forgot to note this before, but there's a more complete 8-minute copy of Neal Casady's 7-23-67 rap available as filler here:http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-11-10.sbd.sacks.1612.sbeok.shnf(I must confess, though, that link has not been streamable in quite some time.)

That recording is only an excerpt; it was first released as a flexidisc in Hank Harrison's early-'70s Dead Book. Presumably he had a more complete tape of that evening, but no more of it has been heard since.

Another minor correction - the 11/28/73 link here includes outtakes from Tom Constanten's Tarot album. Though long believed to have Garcia, Lesh & Hart playing on them, I think it's just TC's regular Touchstone/Rubber Duck band of the time, with no Dead involvement.

I was at one of the Tarot concerts in the 70's, Jerry Garcia was listed as a sometimes guest, and Tom Constanten had some involvement but wasn't there, I just passed on the playbill to a friend, but I think I still have a scan and a scan of the stub if you are interested.Huckleberry AT ptd.net

It's been reported that there's a piano player in the post-drums jam on 4/7/71: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-04-07.sbd.cantor.gmb.96225.flac16

The most likely suspect is Ned Lagin, who also guested the next night. The piano is barely audible here, though. And unfortunately, the jam cuts after only two minutes! It's quite possible this show was multitracked for the live album, though, so a complete copy of the jam might be in the Vault.

This is an unusually short show - at the end Jerry apologizes that they can't play more due to the curfew, and they may have been delayed and just played one long set that night rather than two. For now, we don't know how long that jam might have been - it could've turned right into NFA, or it could've wandered a while like the jam on 4/29/71.

This is something I forgot to add earlier... Tom Constanten briefly mentioned some early guest appearances: "I remember a San Diego show where Santana sat in with us at San Diego State. [5/11/69] Also, the New Orleans Pop Festival where the Jefferson Airplane sat in with us. [9/1/69] There was also one time at a place on Sunset Boulevard called Thelma's...where Stephen Stills and David Crosby sat in with us. [12/10/69]"

It's interesting that TC remembers Crosby at the Thelma's show, since he's not evidenced on tape. But the really intriguing part is the Airplane sitting in at the New Orleans Pop Festival. Our tape of the show doesn't have them, and a festival seems an unlikely place for this to happen (due to many bands & lack of time), but there may well have been a post-show jam not on our tape. (Garcia and Hart would join the Airplane for a jam at the Family Dog just a few days later.)

Sadly, there is an identical situation from 1966 - on 7/16/66, the Airplane & the Dead played Midnight Hour together. (Notoriously sung by Marty Balin, Pigpen, Joan Baez, and Mimi Farina!) But it is not on our tape of the show.

i attended the 7/16/72 hartford show and was about 30 feet from the stage. aside from what's already known, i clearly recall dickie betts coming out first during sugar magnolia although you can't hear him on the sb. also, jaimoe from the abb was playing as 2nd drummer on the whole closing segment from nfa through j.b. goode. you can hear two drummers pretty clearly especially during nfa. some of this may be easier to hear on the aud recording since the mix at the end was all over the place on the sb.

I wonder if it is easier to hear on the AUD... Set II of the AUD no longer circulates; at least, the show copy on the Archive only uses it for set I, so I've only heard the SBD of set II. That copy notes: "mix/equipment problems during Sugar Magnolia."

Someone on dead.net recalled about one of the Boston Tea Party shows in October '69: "Between sets there was a mime/music improv that involved a mime (I do not know who he was) with Jerry, Mickey and TC doing improv music behind him. It was different, strange and weirdly engaging." http://dead.net/show/october-2-1969

David Gans has pointed out that it's not Ronnie Hawkins on 6/13/69 - it's Wayne Ceballos (of Aum), and the flute player was likely Gary Larkey (of Sanpaku). Those two bands opened that show.

Larkey is also the likeliest flute player on 8/21/69, not Charles Lloyd - Sanpaku also opened that show. See this post: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/guest-flute-players-with-grateful-dead.html (The guests on 8/3/69 haven't been conclusively identified yet, though.)

An Archive reviewer says the guest on 3/8/70 was "Paul Michael Cantrell (aka Rathead) jumping up on stage and playing harmonica during Pigpen's acoustic set. Pigpen didn't know what to make of it but they jammed together and he seemed to enjoy it cause he/they let him stay and play. The rest of the band came back and in a short time the majority of the audience ended up on the very small stage for the rest of the night!"

Sometime soon I have to update this post, there are way too many outdated mistakes...

A new guest has been discovered! In the Lovelight on 4/4/69, there is a different organ player, definitely not Pigpen or TC. He clearly isn't too familiar with the Dead's Lovelight, but he gives it a shot... Sanpaku opened that night, and they had an organ player, so he would be my bet for this mystery guest.

I just listened to the Beach Boys portion of 4/27/71 and was wondering what members of the Beach Boys were playing with the Dead because I don't hear much lead Garcia and the drumming sounds very mechanical and sort of loud.

In Searchin and Cell Block 9, the Dead stay on the stage along with the Beach Boys - there are two drummers. (I think Lesh stays on bass but am not sure. Pigpen also sings in Searchin.) In Good Vibrations and I Get Around, the Beach Boys are by themselves. At least Garcia and Weir return for Help Me Rhonda; then for Okie and JBG, Kreutzmann is back as well, and there's more twin-drumming. (Not sure if Lesh plays in these, but I suspect he does.) As far as I know it's the full five-man Beach Boys lineup. Their regular bass player, Bruce Johnston, may have stayed on keyboard when Lesh was on bass.Searchin and Cell Block 9 are probably the highlights, so far as this kind of thing goes; Help Me Rhonda would have been improved by a bit of tuning & rehearsal in advance...

I have a question. There was a tape from the 80's that I loved, and I can't find it... It's a normal show...not suggesting that I have some "secret show" or anything...I just can't find the tape and I can't figure out which show it is in deadbase, etc. .ANYWAY, during the Drums/Space there is a "guest." I think the person opened or something, but was invited on stage during drums and space... whoever they (or he) is, they are Indian (aka from India or something) and does this "chanting" sort of thing... Ahhh hummm durrrr ummmm haaaaa neeshhhh ahhhh hummmm dummmm kind of sound. Does anyone know what show that might be... again, normal show during the 80s. Anyone who knows their "dead" ought to know what I am taking about. THANKS!!!! Oh yeah... feel free to email me at jblakeney0@gmail.com THANKS!!!!

My best guess is that's Hamza el Din, an Egyptian musician the Dead met in '78 who guested with them frequently. These are a few shows he appeared in: 11/24/78 drums>Ollin Arrageed>Fire8/5/79 drums>Ollin Arrageed>NFA 12/30/86 Hamza/drums>Iko3/17/88 drums/Hamza>space>GDTRFB12/27/90 drums/Hamza>space>Miracle12/31/90 drums/Hamza>space>Other One

There may be other examples of chanting in '80s Drums>Spaces that I don't remember - the drummers sometimes brought on other guests. Another instance (not the one you're looking for) is 6/2/95, when Drums>Space had a break for the Gyoto Monks to chant for a bit...

The 7/28/73 Watkins Glen encore listed here is incomplete. That set is famous for the Dead, Allmans, and Band jamming on Not Fade Away, Mountain Jam, Around & Around and Johnny B Goode.

However, there was more to the set that never circulated with the Dead's tapes - Garcia played on a few songs with the Band before the big Allmans jams. The full set seems to have emerged only recently on Jim Cooper's audience tape of the show.

The encore set starts with the Band by themselves - Rick Danko sings a couple songs. (He sounds pretty drunk.) Then Garcia comes out to join them. Richard Manuel (on piano) sings Have You Ever Been Mistreated, and Garcia takes the first solo; I think Robertson plays the following solo. Then Rick Danko does Da Di De Day, with a little solo from Garcia, who stays more in the background in this song. (It's hard to tell how many guitarists are onstage by this point, but I think Dickey Betts is in there as well.) After NFA comes the highlight, Garcia & Danko singing Warm & Tender Love, with a nice Garcia solo. It sounds a lot like a lost JGB song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yui6xHeXGgY The rest of the set is familiar from the Dead's tapes.

Since Around & Around, Mountain Jam and JBGoode are available in SBD with the Dead's show, it's likely that the earlier part of the set exists in SBD as well.But for now it's available on a nice stereo AUD recording (along with the rest of the Band's show), well worth checking out.